There's a switching cost to switching to/from ANYTHING. And since we're not forced to upgrade at all (in fact, we won't be for the forseeable future), switching is a cost that our business doesn't need to spend. Installing new desktops definitely costs money, but we're talking about switching, not the initial installation. Switching costs money. Period. The second it takes me to put a CD in and click "install" costs money. Waiting for the install to complete costs money. Configuring the damn thing costs money.
Fuck Office. I'm not talking about Office. There are thousands of text editors out there (I use Textpad). I'm talking about our business' specific applications. They don't exist on other platforms. And ANY change, even if it's "really not that difficult" costs money.
Sure, there's no switching cost as long as you get your ass over here and show my company how to use this damn Linux thing, and you find, install, and train us on business apps that are as good as the ones we have now. And of course, you should be able to train all of us instantly after you do our conversion, since any time spent learnign a new system IS A SWITCHING COST.
That's completely reasonable. Would you take a hamburger from a guy on a street corner that was giving them away, even if he assured you that they were perfectly good... he just made them himself this morning?
At the very least, you can tell a company that if it doesn't get fixed, you won't buy another piece of software from them, and neither will anybody else you know. An OS person will tell you to fuck off. I'm the leader of a user group for a specialized piece of software, and the company knows that if I'm not happy, most of their customer base is gonna hear about it. There's incentive for them to get it fixed. There's zero incentive for an OS person to fix your problem.
It's not about whether it works or not. It's about being able to call somebody at 2:00AM when a critical machine goes down, as opposed to waiting for your Usenet post to get propogated, then hoping that l334G33k425 responds to your message in a timely manner and gives you the correct answer. Case in point... my retail businesses have a POS system that I paid for. Granted, there aren't any truly viable OSS ones out there yet, but assume there are. It's worth the money for me to be able to get someone on the phone 30 seconds after it crashes to get my business running again. Or if an employee fucks something up, I know that I can absolutely get someone on the phone who will eventually fix my problem. I don't care how good a competing OSS project is supposed to be: no software is perfect, and there absolutely, positively MUST be someone to fix it when the shit hits the fan (as it always does, eventually). When your rent & power bill & paycheck is on the line every day (as mine are), you don't fuck around. Period.
I don't know if you've heard of this program called "MoSlo". It helps you slow down the machine a bit to run old DOS games that run too quickly. It works ok. But it doesn't work as well as any flavor of Linux, which makes ANY machine as slow as an old 386. Plus, Linux has this great featuer in which your hard drive gets a "workout" because it's swapping 100% of the time, even with 256MB RAM. I love it. Now if only I could get Linux to run my old DOS games, that'd be *perfect*.
I actually do all of that on a P3 something with 256 MB RAM on a W2K box. Zippy as hell. I can encode a DVD, play music, etc all at the same time without a problem.
Considering that the last time I bought RAM, I paid $1/MB, current RAM prices could quadruple, and I'd still be happy. Besides, what kind of apps do you need more than say, 256MB RAM? Hell, most machines I see these days ship with 512MB, which is more than I need.
Then stop beating a dead horse. It's not gonna happen, any more than my active campaign to call "automobiles", "eggplants". For some reason, people just aren't interested in changing the meaning of words they use already. Don't ask me why...
I was always under the impression that it was as open as html.
Just because it's open doesn't mean that it's a useable standard. I don't think that any sane person today would consider VRML any kind of "standard" any more than Netscape (the browser) is a "standard".
Personally, I won't be using any Israeli mail service. With Bush & Ashcroft's nifty Patriot Act, I could easily be tagged as a terrorist, and imprisoned without a trial.
I could be wrong, but I was first in IT back in 1996, and this was the case back then (In NC). This is most definitely not news to me. I was in IT for almost 7 years, and I never got paid a dime of overtime (but the hourly rates I was getting paid were already obscene).
OK, first off, the whole "making the world better" is bullshit. It's a product, that's it. He's not saving the world by ending hunger or curing cancer. He's selling a product.
Secondly, EVERY business does this. A business is only as good as its employees, and every business (including my own) hires the best people, regardless of who they are or what they've done in the past. If I can hire a good person away from a competitor, even better.
Actually, I'm thinking that they just don't give a rat's ass. Non-geeks that I know couldn't care less about the OS they're running. It just doesn't matter.
I will still participate in the LUG, just let new leadership come to the fore.
Actually, it sounds like he guy is just a drama queen. I mean, really, look at this quote. The group is a bunch of dorks who get together to drink soda and talk about computers on Friday nights instead of getting laid, and he's talking about "new leadership coming to the fore". Oh puh-lease. Imagine the lead fry cook at the local McDonald's quitting saying this.
What I'm wondering is if the Linux coders feel like real schmoes right about now because lots and lots of companies and people are making fortunes off of their work, and all they get is maybe one line in a hidden readme file that nobody will read? I know this'll get modded down, but I'm really curious. I know that if I did some work, then it was taken and used by lots of people to make lots of money, and I didn't even get a "thanks", I know I'd be pretty pissed off. Of course, they knew this going in, so why exactly do OSS people do this? It makes no sense.
This is proof that people just don't care about computer security, which should make all of you tinfoil hat types sit up and recognize that when you're screaming "WINDOWS ISN'T SECURE!!!", nobody really listens and nobody really cares. THAT is why Windows is so popular. Linux & such may be more secure, but when it comes down to it, most people just don't give a shit.
As apparently, a real geezer, I have no idea what this post is about. Is it just saying that the "Game Boy Advance" has been reverse enginnered, so people can write games for it? And why exactly is this interesting? Isn't the Game Boy a relatively ancient little hand held thing?
Slashdot Mirror
There's a switching cost to switching to/from ANYTHING. And since we're not forced to upgrade at all (in fact, we won't be for the forseeable future), switching is a cost that our business doesn't need to spend. Installing new desktops definitely costs money, but we're talking about switching, not the initial installation. Switching costs money. Period. The second it takes me to put a CD in and click "install" costs money. Waiting for the install to complete costs money. Configuring the damn thing costs money.
Fuck Office. I'm not talking about Office. There are thousands of text editors out there (I use Textpad). I'm talking about our business' specific applications. They don't exist on other platforms. And ANY change, even if it's "really not that difficult" costs money.
Sure, there's no switching cost as long as you get your ass over here and show my company how to use this damn Linux thing, and you find, install, and train us on business apps that are as good as the ones we have now. And of course, you should be able to train all of us instantly after you do our conversion, since any time spent learnign a new system IS A SWITCHING COST.
His reply: "I don't trust free."
That's completely reasonable. Would you take a hamburger from a guy on a street corner that was giving them away, even if he assured you that they were perfectly good... he just made them himself this morning?
Exactly.
At the very least, you can tell a company that if it doesn't get fixed, you won't buy another piece of software from them, and neither will anybody else you know. An OS person will tell you to fuck off. I'm the leader of a user group for a specialized piece of software, and the company knows that if I'm not happy, most of their customer base is gonna hear about it. There's incentive for them to get it fixed. There's zero incentive for an OS person to fix your problem.
It's not about whether it works or not. It's about being able to call somebody at 2:00AM when a critical machine goes down, as opposed to waiting for your Usenet post to get propogated, then hoping that l334G33k425 responds to your message in a timely manner and gives you the correct answer. Case in point... my retail businesses have a POS system that I paid for. Granted, there aren't any truly viable OSS ones out there yet, but assume there are. It's worth the money for me to be able to get someone on the phone 30 seconds after it crashes to get my business running again. Or if an employee fucks something up, I know that I can absolutely get someone on the phone who will eventually fix my problem. I don't care how good a competing OSS project is supposed to be: no software is perfect, and there absolutely, positively MUST be someone to fix it when the shit hits the fan (as it always does, eventually). When your rent & power bill & paycheck is on the line every day (as mine are), you don't fuck around. Period.
Windows Server has a DNS service built in.
I don't know if you've heard of this program called "MoSlo". It helps you slow down the machine a bit to run old DOS games that run too quickly. It works ok. But it doesn't work as well as any flavor of Linux, which makes ANY machine as slow as an old 386. Plus, Linux has this great featuer in which your hard drive gets a "workout" because it's swapping 100% of the time, even with 256MB RAM. I love it. Now if only I could get Linux to run my old DOS games, that'd be *perfect*.
I actually do all of that on a P3 something with 256 MB RAM on a W2K box. Zippy as hell. I can encode a DVD, play music, etc all at the same time without a problem.
Video games belong on consoles.
Considering that the last time I bought RAM, I paid $1/MB, current RAM prices could quadruple, and I'd still be happy. Besides, what kind of apps do you need more than say, 256MB RAM? Hell, most machines I see these days ship with 512MB, which is more than I need.
I agree, but as long as they have a guy who can make funny noises with his mouth, while leaving out Steve Guttenberg.
Then stop beating a dead horse. It's not gonna happen, any more than my active campaign to call "automobiles", "eggplants". For some reason, people just aren't interested in changing the meaning of words they use already. Don't ask me why...
Anyway, I'm off to go get my eggplant registered.
I was always under the impression that it was as open as html.
Just because it's open doesn't mean that it's a useable standard. I don't think that any sane person today would consider VRML any kind of "standard" any more than Netscape (the browser) is a "standard".
Personally, I won't be using any Israeli mail service. With Bush & Ashcroft's nifty Patriot Act, I could easily be tagged as a terrorist, and imprisoned without a trial.
Don't do it.
I agree 100%, but I think that the hordes of open source programmers will disagree with you (as was explained to me several days ago here).
A. Jackass, it's not uninformed. I was an IT drone for almost 7 years.
/. surfers provide virtually no income to me at all. They're mostly leechers.
B.
C. I have nothing to do with spam, whatsoever.
Go away.
I could be wrong, but I was first in IT back in 1996, and this was the case back then (In NC). This is most definitely not news to me. I was in IT for almost 7 years, and I never got paid a dime of overtime (but the hourly rates I was getting paid were already obscene).
OK, first off, the whole "making the world better" is bullshit. It's a product, that's it. He's not saving the world by ending hunger or curing cancer. He's selling a product.
Secondly, EVERY business does this. A business is only as good as its employees, and every business (including my own) hires the best people, regardless of who they are or what they've done in the past. If I can hire a good person away from a competitor, even better.
Good luck with your lawsuit! Make sure you report back when it's finished, so we can hear all about it! I'm sure you'll win!
they don't know that other OSes exist.
Actually, I'm thinking that they just don't give a rat's ass. Non-geeks that I know couldn't care less about the OS they're running. It just doesn't matter.
I will still participate in the LUG, just let new leadership come to the fore.
Actually, it sounds like he guy is just a drama queen. I mean, really, look at this quote. The group is a bunch of dorks who get together to drink soda and talk about computers on Friday nights instead of getting laid, and he's talking about "new leadership coming to the fore". Oh puh-lease. Imagine the lead fry cook at the local McDonald's quitting saying this.
I love this quote:
...Linux people are very friendly people."
I nearly shot beer out of my nose when I read this. I want to know who he's been talking to, so I can get Linux actually working on my machines!
What I'm wondering is if the Linux coders feel like real schmoes right about now because lots and lots of companies and people are making fortunes off of their work, and all they get is maybe one line in a hidden readme file that nobody will read? I know this'll get modded down, but I'm really curious. I know that if I did some work, then it was taken and used by lots of people to make lots of money, and I didn't even get a "thanks", I know I'd be pretty pissed off. Of course, they knew this going in, so why exactly do OSS people do this? It makes no sense.
This is proof that people just don't care about computer security, which should make all of you tinfoil hat types sit up and recognize that when you're screaming "WINDOWS ISN'T SECURE!!!", nobody really listens and nobody really cares. THAT is why Windows is so popular. Linux & such may be more secure, but when it comes down to it, most people just don't give a shit.
As apparently, a real geezer, I have no idea what this post is about. Is it just saying that the "Game Boy Advance" has been reverse enginnered, so people can write games for it? And why exactly is this interesting? Isn't the Game Boy a relatively ancient little hand held thing?